The internet has been really slow the last couple of days. It’s so frustrating! Why aren’t the people at the internet company doing something about it?

Grrr….

Well, at least this morning it’s looking better…

Anyway, I still haven’t gotten pix of my new haircut. Lone hasn’t bothered to take pix… I guess he doesn’t like my hair. =( =P

On to more important things; was the match between South Korea and China for the Uber Cup yesterday exciting or what!!

I’m really glad Korea won. China has been hogging the cup for the last 6 rounds, and I think Korea played really well and deserved to win. I felt so moved when they won in the end and everyone was so happy and celebrating, and especially when I saw one of their coaches cry! It’s a good win.

Congratulations, Korea!!

I can’t wait for the Thomas Cup match today!!

In an impulse (as usual), I chopped off my long hair yesterday!

I’d had really long hair for many years now, maybe 3-4 years or so, and I’ve gotten really bored of it.

I did think of cutting it earlier this year, but felt lazy and was thinking that I should try growing it to waist length first, since I’d gotten so far already.

The truth is, it took ages for my hair to grow. Although I’d had long hair for years, it never really grew that much longer because I had to keep cutting the split ends.

My hair was dry and damaged, and frankly, I’m too lazy to maintain it everyday.

I thought recently, when I saw so many split ends, of trimming the ends again, but then I thought also, it’s never going to end (pun intended), so I just decided to cut it all off.

It’s now *really* short. And I mean, *really* short.

Maybe I’ll post a pic soon, if Lone would get his camera out. =P

Firstly, as you can see, I changed my look! =) I mean on the blog!

This looks really good and I’m really loving it, but let me tell you it wasn’t easy choosing this! There were so many great templates to choose from!

I guess I could always change it again later if I want to, Blogger.com has made it a lot easier now that they allow you to keep your widgets when you change templates. It used to be a lot more tedious, having to manually move all your widgets to the new template.

Now that it’s easier, I might change my template more often. =) Or not.

Anywayyyy…

I took up Yoga classes!! =)

And Lone took them up with me!! =)

I’m so happy that Lone decided to join me, and we’re having lots of fun together, and learning so much together, and the good thing is that having him with me in class pushes me harder.

As most people know, since it’s so very obvious, I’m really out of shape. I wanted some sort of exercise that could help with my various physical problems, and I don’t mean just regular exercises like badminton or jogging that makes you sweat, but something that would *really* benefit the energy of the body.

My first choice was tai chi, actually, but it wasn’t easy finding a good teacher and convenient classes.

After months of looking and not finding, I guess yoga started seeming like the better choice.

And I’m really loving it!!

Lone and I signed up for 3 months of unlimited classes, and we’re going 3 times a week for now, because we need to condition the body first, so we need to rest in between classes. Once we’re used to it, we might perhaps go 5 or 6 times a week, depending. =)

So far we’ve had 2 classes, and I can already see improvements on my body. Not huge improvements or anything, but I can see a little, and obviously, being out of shape, there’s a lot more improvements to be seen!

I can’t wait for the next class!

You know, I used to keep a diary.

A private, physical one, where I handwrote all my thoughts and my secrets in.

Sometimes I wonder why I blog instead of write in my diary. The thing is, I can write more details in my diary, and say as many bad things about as many a**holes as I want, and fully disclose their names as well.

So why do I choose to blog where I have to censor certain details, instead of letting it all out in a diary.

Heck, why does anyone do it?

In the hopes of getting heard, I think.

Many times, even while I was writing in my private diary, I always thought, wouldn’t my great-grandchildren get a kick out of reading their great-grandmother’s diary? ;-)

I want them to see how I was, that their boring old great-grandmother had a life, had feelings, had thoughts…

We all want to be heard. We want people to know who we are, to understand us, to feel like we’re not alone.

Blogging gives us that.

We may have many readers, or just a few, we may have a lot of feedback via comments or none at all, but putting it all out there on a blog at least let us think that maybe, just maybe, someone is listening to us.

So recently I was offered a credit card from a bank.

Ok, not really “offered”, but the representative asked me to sign up for it since it was free, blah blah blah, the usual sales pitch they do to get you to sign up for credit cards…

I already had one, so I didn’t need another one, but I thought, oh well, why not. So I signed up for it,

The representative said it would take a little while for them to do the basic required background check on me to see if I was eligible for the credit card.

I understood, of course, they’d want to see if I was earning enough money, or if I had any unpaid debts, or etc.

I was very confident that their background check would be very favorable for me, because I earn reasonably well, and I’d *never* owed money to my other credit card provider.

*Ever*.

And I do mean ever. I’d had that card for at least a couple of years, and I’d always paid back every single cent every single month. Not the minimum amount, but the full amount. Every month. Never fail.

I seldom use my credit card, you see, and I put small amounts of credit on it, and I never spend money that I don’t have.

So I was kinda proud of myself, I felt as if I was like a model citizen, always paying back anything I owe. I was so sure that this second credit card company would definitely approve my application.

Imagine my surprise when they told me my application was declined!

I wondered what skeletons in my closet did they dig up while doing the background check that they would decline my application… I really was confused!

Then it hit me!

The exact reason why I thought they’d surely approve me, is the exact reason why they declined me!

They can’t make any money out of me!

Because I pay back every single cent I owe, rather than just the minimum amount, and allowing the rest of it to be subjected to the interest, they can’t make money out of giving me a credit card!

And in fact, I think they might even lose money because they wouldn’t even be charging me for the service! (Because the representative said no charge for first year, etc.)

Those banks are real crooks, I tell you. Not giving me a credit card coz they can’t make money out of me… *sheesh*

But then again, they probably figured I really didn’t need one anyway, and they’re right. LOL!

But they’re still crooks! Think of the amount of interest they charge us when we take loans from them, and then think about the amount of interest they give us when we put our hard earned money in their banks, for their use!

Crooks!

Hmmppphh…

I’ve been really busy the last couple of days getting things done that I should’ve gotten done a long time ago.

It feels good to finally get some of them out of the way, but the more I work, the more work I realize I have!

And as with everything, I need to make a choice. I know I have a lot to do, and not enough time to do them all. I’m not superwoman, that I can do things in superspeed and with super efficiency, or Hiro, that I can manipulate time.

So sometimes I wonder if I should continue blogging, because I realize that I blog mostly for my own indulgence. At the same time though, I think my blogging is important, because it’s an outlet for me.

Then I think again, that I have so many blogs, and surely I could give some of them up? But then again, no, because this blog is important for expressing my thoughts, and my book blog is important not just for expressing my thoughts on books but also because I’ve made so many new friends from it!

Every blog I have, I have for a reason, and I don’t want to give them up. They are worth maintaining for various reasons.

So I think about my studies; obviously, I can’t give up my degree program in Holistic Nutrition, because this is the ‘official’ course I’m taking. I’m also ‘un-officially’ studying religion and spirituality, crochet and knitting crafts, various computer skills, and so many other stuff I’m interested in.

I’ve given up on some of them, *for now*, but even so I still have a lot on my plate, and am not willing to cut down on some of them.

I live for learning, and I live for growth, and I’m loving learning something new everyday!

Do I even need to mention the other stuff I need to get done everyday? My music practice, freelance work, cleaning house, correspondence, etc… 

So yes, I do have a lot on my plate, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Life is fun!

More than a year since I moved to BettyNLone, I decided to move back here.

I weighed my options about moving back here, and I think it’s for the best.

Recently, I re-read some of my old post here at Just Betty, and I miss having and writing those thoughtful (I think) posts. I enjoyed reading back what I wrote and giving myself food for thought that I’d forgotten. I realized that I didn’t really post much over at BettyNLone, and that a lot of the posts were superficial.

The reason for that is because I don’t feel good about ranting on a blog that Lone and I share, because I feel like that blog is supposed to be about *us*, not about *me*, and when I rant, or post stuff unrelated to him, I feel like I’m stealing the limelight away from *us*.

So it ends up being superficial (not a bad thing, just that I miss having an outlet for other stuff), as in we only post about where we’ve gone, what we’ve done, etc. Obviously, we don’t post about our arguments because we mostly settle them as fast as we have them, and we’re not going to share intimate details as those are personal. Watch your Korean drama if you want drama! =P

Anyway, since then Lone and I have gotten married, and we’ve again moved to another blog, The Lone Family, because in the future it’s not going to be only me and him anymore. And no, before you ask, I’m not pregnant, and I’m not planning to be for a while. We just like to think ahead.

The Lone Family blog would also, obviously, be a blog about us and our family, so I won’t be posting my own personal stuff there either.

I thought about posting my personal thoughts over at Betty’s Books instead, but I felt uncomfortable about that too, because it’s where I share my thoughts about the books I read, and I think it would be weird if I also posted negative stuff about the people I know in real life!

Oh, trust me, I’m no saint. I love bad-mouthing some of the people I know in real life! =P

Ok, not really. I don’t really “bad-mouth” them as much as I just tell truths that they don’t wanna face, but even so, I wouldn’t “bad-mouth” them here if I could do it to their face, and trust me, I *have* tried doing it to their faces, but they always shout me down, coz they’re too afraid to see the truth, and I just get tired of getting nowhere.

So I want to write it on my blog, to get it out, but the other blogs weren’t the right place to do it, so I’m back here again. =P

All jokes aside though, I’m really happy to be back! I realize that it’s important, while being part of a couple and of a family, that I hold on to my individuality as well, because that’s what makes me, me.

So I’m back now, and as before, it’s Just Betty here. =)

Hey everyone! Lone and I have decided to move in together!

To a new blog address! (ahem...=P)

Here's the new url: http://bettynlone.blogspot.com

It'll probably take me a little while to move my stuff there, (all my links and stuff on the sidebar....) and I've been exhaustingly busy the last couple of days, but we'll get settled in soon. =)

I've realized that I don't always update here regularly, and pix are posted up very slowly because the camera is always with Lone. So we decided that if we shared a blog, he could post up the pix, and I could write whatever I wanted. LOL! And it would be a whole lot easier to maintain one blog together than two.

So yeah, head on to our new blog: http://bettynlone.blogspot.com and update your links! See you there!

Remember the 'secret' I told you about?

We finally finished it! Wooo hooo!!




Listen to it and tell me what you think! =D And if you like it, spread it around and tell your friends to tell us what they think! Ok, even if you didn't like it, please tell us too, so we can improve.

Like I said before, it's not really a secret, it's just that we wanted to surprise everyone with what we've learned about making our own recording, and of course, *ahem*, our musical skills as well. LOL!

I know the sound isn't really that great, but honestly we did the best we could with the equipment we had. We used a cheap, non-condenser mic, a simple recording software, without even a sound card, which I think we're gonna have to get after this...

So anyway, we did the best we could with the sound and the mixing, but I think the actual music itself is really, really good! =) I'm proud of us, because I really like our arrangement. And I'm especially proud of Lone, coz he did all the music himself, the drums, the bass, the many guitar layers, and he did the mixing really well considering the equipment we have. And trust me, of all the things we had to do, the mixing was the hardest! And part of the reason why we took so much time to do this one song too, because we kept having to re-do some parts becoz of the way the sounds turned out.

I, on the other hand, did all the vocals, the main and a few layers of backup vocals. And *ahem*... if I didn't sound good, I blame it on the mic! LOL!

Ok ok! The truth is, I'm surprised at how different it is singing on a recording and singing live, and how much harder in fact. And as I've said before, I'm no Christina or Mariah, so please do forgive my not-so-good singing, but seriously, the mic does play an important part in the vocal sound quality!

But hey, this is just for now anyway, and it's not like we're recording a CD or anything, this is just to get our music 'on tape', and maybe later when we can afford all the ridiculously expensive but extremely high-quality equipment, we'll record it again. And hopefully by then, I will have improve a lot more on my singing, and then *everything* will sound really good. =D

So tell me what you think!

P.S. Btw, if you're wondering how we got the name Space Blaze, Lone and I decided that we would each think of one word and combine them. We each have personal attachments to our words, and they sorta go together well, don't you think, with their rhyming sounds. =D

I haven't blogged in a while, but there's a perfectly good reason for that. =)

Redemption is BACK!

And BETTER than EVER!

And um... we've been spending a lot of time with them. =) Which means really late nights and sleeping at dawn and waking up after noon.

Not healthy for me, I know, but we don't do it *that* often.... sort of.

Anywayyyy..... Redemption is back! And better than ever! Seriously! They have really improved since the last time we saw them perform, which was more than a year ago.

So if anyone is interested in listening to really good live music and having lots of fun, make sure you head over to Hard Rock Cafe this August. Ok?? We'll probably be there more often than not. =D

We've gotten lots of pictures, but as usual, they're with Lone, so you'll have to wait for them. We also celebrated Charmin's birthday last Saturday in Hard Rock, so you'll see those pictures too. And Ee Won and Jeremy's marriage registration was on Monday, so you'll see those pictures as well!

Did I mention that I'm so thrilled for the both of them?! They make a really great couple and are so soooo sweet. Ee Won has one of the most charming personalities I know! And Jeremy is great fun and really good to her. *Envy*

Ok, not really, coz Lone is really great to me too. =)

Actually, I feel that us girls have been really lucky, because we've got great guys who are really, really wonderful to us, care about us, love us a lot, and give us everything we want and need... We hardly ever complain about them, or if we do it's just for fun, and the best thing is, there's no DRAMA! =P No screaming matches, no third parties, no crying all night, no drama!

But there's so much excitement! Wedding plans, and fun nights out, places to go, and people to meet, wonderful and interesting conversation, games and laughter. So much fun! And no drama!

This is the life! And I am so extremely happy and grateful that Lone loves me. =D

Anyway, EW and Jeremy's wedding is this October. So thrilled, so thrilled!